Syphilis is a wonderful disease, the virus causes mental stimulation and fills the artist with all kinds of whimsy, which is perhaps the origin of great works. Nietzsche, Van Gogh, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, Lenin, Maupassant …… and even your beloved Lincoln and Gandhi – artists, literary figures, revolutionaries – none of them are immune. Syphilis has always sung.
Let’s look at the origins of syphilis. Columbus discovered America in the 15th century and the Spaniards brought smallpox to America and in return the Spaniards brought syphilis back from America. From Spain, syphilis spread to Sicily and Naples in Italy, then from Italy to France, from France to Poland and then into Russia before spreading to the Middle East. At the same time, Portuguese sailors caught syphilis to India, followed by ocean-going sailors spread syphilis to China, from China and then to Japan. In short, syphilis ran faster than love, second only to gossip.
The name of syphilis shows its brief path of spread: the French called it “Neapolitan disease”, the Germans and Poles called it “French disease”, the Russians called it “Polish disease “, the Turks and Arabs call it the “Christian disease”, the Indians call it the “Portuguese disease”, the Chinese north of Lingnan call it the “Cantonese sore”, and the Japanese call it the “Japanese disease”. “, and the Japanese called it “Chinese Sore”. By 1530, it had acquired the common Latin name “Syphilis”, and the Chinese called it “Syphilis”, based on the characteristics of the disease. (From the Elephant Trade Union)
Syphilis is sexually transmitted, it is light, the pace of flirtatious, then the literary youths and no now Okamoto inquisitive 0.01 protection, naturally have been hit. After being hit not yet know, and further disorderly spread, so soon syphilis from a sexually transmitted disease rose to a social disease, cultural disease. And the people who got the disease from the bottom up more and more big names, more and more model, the following we are going to introduce their fallen figure and face.
1.Van Gogh, Gauguin, Manet
Van Gogh self-portrait
Recently many people have suddenly fallen in love with Van Gogh, seemingly overnight, we all know the sunflower and starry sky, know the intense color exaggerated brushwork after the painter that tragic life. Van Gogh, who was not recognized in life, poor, and suffered huge setbacks in his love life, had a hot emotion and soul, and when such a desire was banished from the earth, Van Gogh naturally chose a prostitute. Van Gogh’s view on prostitutes, “Van Gogh’s biography” is written: “…… peasants plow the land. In 1888, Van Gogh arrived in the small town of Arles in the south of France, where he shared a prostitute named Raschel with the painter Gauguin. The famous “ear-cutting” incident occurred when Van Gogh cut off his own ear and gave it to the prostitute Rachael. This incident made it difficult for Van Gogh to be seen by the local population, and Van Gogh was forced to leave Arles to be treated in a mental hospital in Saint-Rémy, where he eventually shot himself on July 27, 1890, by a small river in Saint-Rémy.
Gauguin’s Self-Portrait
When we talk about Van Gogh, we cannot forget his good friend Gauguin, whom many people know because of Maugham’s novel “The Moon and Sixpence”. Now some people even say that Van Gogh’s ears were not cut by himself, but by Gauguin. Less than a year after Van Gogh’s death, Gauguin arrived in Tahiti, where he spent several years of his life in the wilderness. In Tahiti, Gauguin had to change a native girl to share his bed almost every day. It was said to be a local custom that girls were proud to sleep with their distant guests. Repression can be perverse, indulgence can be bad – Gauguin was infected with syphilis by the natives of Tahiti.
In 1898, when Gauguin was still living in Tahiti, he asked a friend in Paris to send him some sunflower seeds, planted them in his garden, and painted a series of still lifes of sunflowers. I wonder if he thought of his friend Van Gogh at that time. Like Van Gogh, Gauguin chose to commit suicide several times, and it is worth mentioning that he never used a pistol, but chose poison. However, he was unsuccessful in his attempts and died of syphilis on May 8, 1903.
Manet’s masterpieces
Manet, the master of Impressionism, also led a thrilling life. In 1852, Susanna gave birth to a child, the father of which has always been a matter of debate. Perhaps even the person himself was unsure. The child was later called “godfather”, but Manet also called the child, whom he loved dearly, “brother” in front of his closest friends. It was only after the death of Manet’s father that the lovers finally became a couple, and it became a scandal in Paris. Such a torrid love life still did not stop the master from having sex, and he was eventually infected with syphilis. Manet died of syphilis and rheumatism on April 30, 1883, and he was buried in the Passy cemetery in Paris.
The life of an artist would be treated more tolerantly, especially by other artists. Edgar Degas said, “Manet is greater than we can imagine.”
2. Nietzsche and Schopenhauer
Nietzsche
Nietzsche, who was a syphilitic, once said two very famous words. “Are you going to the women? Don’t forget your whip!” , the other was, “I lead a really dangerous life, I’m the kind of machine that could explode.” With these two sentences Mr. Tomas had thought that Uncle Nietzsche was a SM lover. Whether or not, Nietzsche ended up being infected with syphilis, and the symptoms of syphilitic psychosis were very severe. He was so deliriously clutching the neck of a horse and screaming and singing nonsense that he was eventually sent to an asylum. By 1895 the fourth stage of syphilis began to paralyze Nietzsche, and his friend Overbeck recalled his last visit to Nietzsche, when he saw his friend go from a state of excitement to depression, half crouched in a corner, just hoping not to be disturbed.
Schopenhauer
Do you usually send flowers to people? Schopenhauer, on the other hand, does not. Schopenhauer never married in his life, and he even hated women a little. He said: “One can either be alone in this world or choose to be vulgar, there is no more choice than that”. On September 21, 1860, after rising from a cold bath, he sat alone for breakfast as usual, and an hour later, when the maid came in again, he was found leaning on the corner of the sofa, asleep forever. And after Schopenhauer’s death, people found the remedy for syphilis in his book. From then on, whether he died of pneumonia or syphilis has become the most debatable issue.
3.Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Bing
Beethoven
Beethoven never married in his life, but after he became famous Beethoven had endless money and female admirers, he kept going to brothels on the one hand, and on the other hand, he kept having relationships with his admirers. “Beethoven was ready to accept any female expression of reverence for himself,” wrote Beethoven’s friend Lenz. Beethoven was also full of ambivalence and self-doubt about going to the brothel, “Only the pleasure of the flesh, without the communication of the soul is always vulgar; afterwards, there is not the slightest feeling of nobility, only regret and remorse. ……” Such a life made him very smoothly infected with syphilis, and in 1797 Beethoven showed symptoms of deafness caused by syphilis, but at that time he did not think it was syphilis. After a long time of treatment without effect, it lasted until finally Beethoven lost his hearing completely. By March 26, 1827, Beethoven died of syphilis. Today, when we enjoy Beethoven’s masterpiece “Ode to Joy”, can we imagine that it was the work of a person with advanced syphilis?
Mozart
Even from now on, Mozart is the heaviest of all, and of course he was a syphilitic, and at the same time the most ecstatic syphilitic of all. Mozart was crazy about feces. In a letter to his lover, Mozart wrote: “Oh! My anus burns like fire, maybe I want to poop? I’ll shit on your nose! The shit will run down your chin …… Do you still love me?” ;In his letters kept coming up, “Poop is delicious” “Bye, take care and poop on the bed oh.” and so on. Mozart was most pleased to learn that he had syphilis. He exclaimed, “I have syphilis! Finally…it’s syphilis! Not the disdainful gonorrhea or cauliflower or whatever. It’s syphilis, Francis I died of syphilis, majestic syphilis, pure and simple, beautiful syphilis …… I got syphilis, I feel proud, screw Bourgeois, hallelujah I got syphilis!” Such a heavy plus trashy life allowed Mozart to live only 35 years.
Schubert
Syphilitic Beethoven once said that Schubert had a spark of genius in his heart, and Schubert was one of the torch bearers at Beethoven’s funeral. Of course, Schubert did not disappoint us, as he was a syphilitic himself. Schubert’s greatest hobby was prostitution, and as an occupational disease, he was infected with syphilis. Syphilis led to Schubert’s death at the age of 31, and he was buried next to Beethoven, so that the two syphilitics could finally be companions.
Schumann
The musician Schumann contracted syphilis in his youth because of his debauched life, and finally developed syphilitic psychosis, which eventually manifested itself in his attempt to commit suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine River in 1854. After being rescued, Schumann died 2 years later in a mental hospital.
Ah Bing
The Chinese folk musician Ah Bing was also a syphilitic who lost his eyesight as a result of syphilis and later composed “The Moon in Two Springs”. In this point may reflect the syphilis of the dynasty is not as violent as the West, and even has a little inspirational components.
4.Flaubert, Maupassant, Baudelaire
Flaubert
The French literary scholar Flaubert, who was unmarried all his life, was often in and out of prostitutes from his youth. Two months after his eighteenth birthday, he wrote a letter to a friend about his visit to a brothel in Rouen. He later confessed that he had contracted syphilis perhaps before he entered law school in Paris at the age of twenty. Flaubert also showed symptoms of syphilitic psychosis on his deathbed, and his student Maupassant wrote: “It was a good death, an enviable stroke of the big stick, which made me wish it too, and all those I loved, to die like an insect strangled by a giant finger.”
Maupassant
But apparently Maupassant was not so lucky, and as a student of Flaubert he inherited the mantle of debauchery from his teacher. Morpurgo’s three great passions were writing, yachting, and beauty – he was a womanizer, and he had a passion for women, including diner girls, farm girls, widows, black women, mature women citizens, and brothels. Eventually, he contracted syphilis as a result of his drunken life of indulgence. The last 18 months of his life were spent in an insane asylum.
Baudelaire
Baudelaire, the author of The Flowers of Evil, is one of the originators of symbolist poetry, the peak of unity between poetic skill and spiritual color, a fallen genius, a tragic great man. Baudelaire was definitely not a happy man, although his life was full of magnificent colors.
At the age of nineteen, he began a life of extreme debauchery. Alcoholics, prostitutes, and drug addicts were all elements of Baudelaire’s life. Baudelaire suffered from syphilis and died from it after several unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide.
5. Ivan the Terrible, Emperor Tongzhi, Abraham Lincoln, Lenin, Hitler, Chiang Kai-shek
Portrait of Ivan the Terrible
Ivan the Terrible, the first tsar of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 16th century, had an even greater rate of wife attrition, with three of his eight wives dying in the family and five of his wives dying, often shortly after marriage – this uncontrolled and recurrent madness is thought to be one of the manifestations of syphilis attacks on the center. In 1580, he even killed his eldest son with a cane, and four years later he himself suffered a stroke and died, leaving the Russian Empire in a power vacuum just after its establishment.
The Tongzhi Emperor
After his marriage, the Tongzhi Emperor stayed alone in the Qianqing Palace, often traveling in private under the guidance of his eunuchs and favorite ministers, often to wine shops, theaters, and flower lanes outside the Chongwenmen Gate, in search of women. Tongzhi thirteen years (1874) on the fifth day of the twelfth month, the Tongzhi Emperor collapsed in the Palace of the Yangxin Hall. According to the records of the Qing Dynasty, the Tongzhi Emperor died of smallpox. Another folklore legend is that Tongzhi died of syphilis. Some people believe that he died from smallpox and syphilis, or from syphilis and smallpox, two diseases.
President Abraham Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln was also a syphilitic. Lincoln’s widow, Mary, suffered from mental illness in her later years, most likely due to complications from syphilis. About Lincoln’s early years as a sailor in New Orleans, which was once the prostitution capital of the United States, he was infected with syphilis there.
Comrade Lenin
Comrade Lenin was depressed during his exile to Europe and contracted syphilis in a red-light district. By the time he died, he was already showing signs of neurosyphilis.
Nazi Hitler
The idea that Hitler was a syphilitic is just a rumor, after all, as a war loser he had no chance to defend himself. It is said that when Hitler was an unknown painter, he was infected with syphilis by a Jewish prostitute when he was a womanizer, causing a lifelong disability. The hatred of Jewish prostitutes became one of the reasons for his future genocide. But Hitler’s behavior at the end of the war resembled that of a syphilitic psychopath.
Chiang Kai-shek
When Chiang Kai-shek was young, he was a regular visitor to the flowery streets. He often went to prostitutes to drink, play cards and sleep with him. He wrote in his diary, “When he arrived at the brothel and saw the dirty beds, Yu brushed them off.” He also wrote in his diary, “My fault is that I am lustful too.” Even when he saw a beautiful woman on the road and was moved, he also wrote in his diary, “I was moved by the sight of a beautiful woman, so I was given one major demerit.” Such a life made Chiang Kai-shek infected with syphilis, and some even said that he was thus deprived of fertility. Jiang Weiguo was actually Dai Jitao’s son, and Jiang Jingguo was conceived and born on the wrong day.
I originally wanted to simply write about syphilis, but once I did, I found it to be vast as well. The fact that so many great people have had syphilis makes those of us who have not had it a little bit of a vague shame. The distance between me and the greats is separated by the distance of syphilis, says Jiu Jiu. This can explain why I am still a loser.